{"id":6726,"date":"2012-04-30T15:23:12","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T22:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=6726"},"modified":"2012-04-30T15:23:12","modified_gmt":"2012-04-30T22:23:12","slug":"how-playing-video-games-can-help-you-become-a-better-street-photographer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/30\/how-playing-video-games-can-help-you-become-a-better-street-photographer\/","title":{"rendered":"How Playing Video Games Can Help You Become a Better Street Photographer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Above photograph by Jun Shen Chia from his “Tokyo<\/a>” series)<\/em><\/p>\n

Eric’s Note<\/strong><\/span>: This article is written my good friend, fellow street photographer, and gamer Jun Shen Chia<\/a>. I met him in Singapore, and marveled at how he was able to shoot so quickly on the streets. I also found out he was a total nerd when it came to video games- and asked him to write this fun article! Enjoy it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jun Shen<\/strong>: People ask me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jun Shen, how do you shoot so fast on the streets?!?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m like a ninja, whipping out my camera, shooting it, and putting it away so quickly that my subjects don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what hit them.\u00c2\u00a0 They walk away whispering to themselves, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What was that?\u00c2\u00a0 Did he take our photo?<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thanks to video games, folks.\u00c2\u00a0 Read on to find out why.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Jun<\/a><\/p>\n

People who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know gamers assume we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re basement-dwelling individuals with the physical capabilities of a sloth.\u00c2\u00a0 Overweight from all the microwave pizzas, sodas, and socially handicapped from spending less time with real people and more time with digital bytes.\u00c2\u00a0 Well they are wrong!\u00c2\u00a0 We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re basement-dwelling individuals with the physical capabilities of a ninja, all lightning fast reflexes.\u00c2\u00a0 We are also the most charming people you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever meet (I speak for myself here).<\/p>\n

How did gamers get this way?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, video games from as early as Super Mario Bros. to as recent as Modern Warfare 3 all share one thing in common.\u00c2\u00a0 They are games that require quick input and even quicker mental prowess.\u00c2\u00a0 Why?\u00c2\u00a0 Whether you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re jumping from one moving platform to the next to avoid lava, or shooting bad guys in the face before they shoot you in yours, you need to press buttons or move your mouse faster than an Olympic athlete bursting out of starting position at the sound of the gun.\u00c2\u00a0 You also need to be able to spot enemies from a mile away so that you can anticipate and plan your attack.\u00c2\u00a0 These skills are highly necessary for becoming an effective photographer.<\/p>\n

\"Jun<\/a><\/p>\n

An article<\/a> from Kotaku talks of scientists from the University of Rochester conducting an experiment in which a whole bunch of 18 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 25 year olds who weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gamers were told to play fast-paced action games like Unreal Tournament and Call of Duty for 50 hours.\u00c2\u00a0 After the gaming sessions, the participants had to complete tasks such as determining the direction a group of dots were traveling, and the results showed that they answered correctly 35 percent faster.<\/p>\n

Apparently this all comes down to how video games force you to streamline your decision-making process such that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re constantly on your toes.\u00c2\u00a0 Because there is only truly ever a binary of either winning or losing in most fast-paced action games, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll inevitably force you to try to improve your decision-making rate such that you get the bad guys quicker than they get you.<\/p>\n

Another study<\/a> done at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York showed that surgeons who played video games made fewer errors in surgery.\u00c2\u00a0 Video-game related tasks that tested hand-eye coordination and motor skills inevitably led to cutting open the gall bladder with more precision.<\/p>\n

\"Jun<\/a><\/p>\n

So how does this help photography you ask?\u00c2\u00a0 Well in the same way you might need to shoot someone in the face faster and more precisely in a video game, you might need to do the same to capture those fast fleeting decisive moments with your camera.<\/p>\n

You may see some people doing something funky out on the streets and you want to be able to capture it at just the right moment.\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where having the lightning reflexes to whip the camera up to your eye quickly and depressing the shutter at the right second matters. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0That takes both anticipation and instinct.<\/p>\n

\"Jun<\/a><\/p>\n

With regards to instincts, sometimes in-game you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop to think if your aim on the enemy is dead-on, you just have to squeeze the trigger.\u00c2\u00a0 Likewise in photography, sometimes you lift the camera to your eye in a split-second, and your finger has already depressed the shutter before you can even finish thinking of doing so.\u00c2\u00a0 Playing video games can help hone your instincts to a point where your fingers are making the correct moves faster than your brain can think it.<\/p>\n

In a competitive game of StarCraft II, pro-gamers are firing off over 200 effective actions per minute.\u00c2\u00a0 Mere mortals can only handle one or two simultaneous tasks in that video game, let alone be able to move their mouse around the screen that fast.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you think they are thinking about all those 200 actions?\u00c2\u00a0 Or are their fingers doing all the work for them because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been wired in the right way already? Firing up your instincts to make those split-second decisions about capturing those decisive moments is crucial to becoming faster at photography.<\/p>\n

\"Jun<\/a><\/p>\n

Obviously back in the day, photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Garry Winogrand only had the streets to hone their finely tuned photograph-taking reflexes.\u00c2\u00a0 But we live in the future now!\u00c2\u00a0 And the future has video games, so why not use that to our advantage eh?<\/p>\n

Another way video games may be able to help with photography is improving your stealth capabilities, helping you approach subjects easier without them noticing you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re there.\u00c2\u00a0 I guarantee playing Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid will totally give you the chops for becoming a true ninja.\u00c2\u00a0 You will totally not look like a creep either.<\/p>\n

\"Jun<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, make no mistake, honing your reflexes is not just<\/em> about playing video games.\u00c2\u00a0 Buying an Xbox 360 or PS3, and playing it for 50 hours won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make you a good photographer.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll take at least 18 years, as I have done ever since picking up a controller at the ripe young age of 6.\u00c2\u00a0 You also need to get out there and actually lift a camera to your eye countless times.\u00c2\u00a0 Just as some people curl barbells at home as they watch TV or while on the toilet, why not lift your camera to your eye repeatedly as you watch TV or while on the toilet?<\/p>\n

More about Jun Shen<\/h2>\n

Jun Shen is an enthusiastic photographer, writer, and gamer.\u00c2\u00a0 He has studied video games at an academic level, and runs a game blog over at http:\/\/biggap.wordpress.com<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 You can check out his photos at www.junshenchia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Are you a gamer and a street photographer? Have you noticed video games (or any other hobbies) helping you in your street photography? Leave a comment below and share your opinion on my Facebook fan page<\/a> as well!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0 (Above photograph by Jun Shen Chia from his “Tokyo” series) Eric’s Note: This article is written my good friend, fellow street photographer, and gamer Jun Shen Chia. I met him in Singapore, and marveled at how he was able to shoot so quickly on the streets. I also found out he was a total […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1174,21,1175],"class_list":["post-6726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts","tag-jun-shen-chia","tag-street-photography","tag-video-games"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/jun-shen-chia-japan.png?fit=845%2C543&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}